Starry Transit Phenakistoscope

Starry Transit_tall machine on stand with wheel mirror

Starry Transit_panorama in shape of cross showing observatory space

Starry Transit_night view of cabinet and machines in observatory

Starry Transit_day view of cabinet two drawers open

Starry Transit_cast iron machine with two round maps

Starry Transit_round map detail brass rings

Starry Transit_day view in observatory with mirror cabinet machine

Starry Transit Phenakistoscope

58" tall x 19" wide x 16" deep

2005

wood, paper, found and fabricated brass and cast iron parts, digital prints

This phenakistoscope is modeled after early nineteenth century parlor toys that use persistence of vision to simulate motion from still images. In the Starry Transit phenakistoscope, a series of still photographs of a turkey vulture in flight, taken by Eadweard Muybridge, fly across a field of stars with an ascending comet.

Photograph by Eric Ferguson.

history of technology, machines